The Woes of Ron
by xXSilverStoneXx
Summary: When Hermione gets mad and says that she needs to date around a little bit, Ron finds out exactly what "dating around" entails for Miss Hermione Granger. DM/HG BEING CONTINUED!


The Woes of Ron

A One-Shot

DracoxHermione

Summary: When Hermione gets pissed and says she needs to date around a bit, Ron finds out what "dating around" entails for Miss Hermione Granger.

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter. The plot is mine, though.

Don't be put off by the beginning! I know what pairing my one-shot is.

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley lay on the couch in the common room. Everyone knew they were together, so they didn't have to hide. Plus, they weren't lying entwined or anything. They were just lying, side-by-side. Hermione rested her head on Ron's chest, feeling the soft rise and fall of his breathing.

These were the perfect moments of their relationship; they weren't fighting. Everything was right, and it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Of course, that wasn't true. Something could always go wrong. But right now, nothing was. It was like they were in a world of their own, far away from anyone or anything else. That Potions essay due on Monday? Eh, Ron would start it tomorrow.

"Do you know what time it is?" Ron murmured in her ear. She felt his hot breath wisp around the shell of her ear and shivered.

"No, but the common room is pretty full. It's probably late afternoon or early evening."

"You're so smart, Hermione," he whispered. She smiled against his chest. She loved these days. The world was perfectly aligned, her hair wasn't frizzy, and she and Ron were not fighting.

Hermione lay in bed, sketching. Hogwarts: A History had been checked out at the library a few months ago when she was bored and wanted to flip through it again, so she had started sketching on some spare parchment. It had become a hobby of hers, and she was quite good at it. She had had her mum send her some pencils, because there was nowhere to get them there at Hogwarts, and ink, let's face it, doesn't have an eraser. Ron and Harry knew about the doodling, but only to a certain extent. She hadn't really thought that it was important, and, call her childish, but she wanted to get really good and show them, just to savor the look of astonishment on their faces. Maybe even a "Bloody hell" from Ron. It was just because Harry was the savior of the Wizarding world and stuff, so she always was overlooked- Harry Potter's smart, book-wormy friend. Damn, was she tired of that. Even Ron and Harry had begun to think of her as a walking dictionary. It didn't matter that she was, it mattered that she had feelings, and she was their best friend. Forgetting her so easily had made her feel hurt, so she had plunged into drawing with a vengeance. She sketched an outline of Ron's face, outlining the slight laughter lines around his stunning blue eyes, and the way his red hair looked windswept, the tips hanging in his eyes. The smile on his face and the dimples in his freckled cheeks.

The next time that she looked at the clock, it was eleven. She couldn't have been working for an hour and a half! It had passed so quickly. She looked down at her drawing critically, searching for an error to perfect. Normally she had some line that wasn't straight enough, a noticeable difference between the shape of the eyes, or a mistake in the shading of the clothing. Now, she could find nothing. It was perfect. The wrinkles in his shirt where it bunched up slightly around his shoulders, the light in his eyes, the way his hair fell. She smiled, and signed her name with a flourish at the bottom of the parchment. She would give it to him tomorrow. She turned off the light, pulled her curtain hangings shut, and closed her eyes.

~Dream~

Ron and Harry stood behind her, laughing at some poor first-years who had looked up at Harry with moon eyes and asked for autographs. Ron turned to Hermione. She felt hope in her chest. Maybe he was finally going to include her! She looked for sorriness in his eyes, and found none. She was puzzled. When had Ronald learned to cover his emotions? She had always been able to read him quite easily.

"What's the definition of loser?" Ron asked loudly, making sure that the first-years would hear him. The redhead blushed, the blond whimpered, and the brunette ran off with tears in her eyes. She looked at him square in the eye, angry.

"Why the hell would you do that, Ronald? Perfectly sweet girls, they probably are, and you just laughed them off. Do you remember on the fist ride to Hogwarts, you asked Harry if he really had that scar? In an awed tone, like he was a god? And now you are making fun of people for thinking that he is a hero? You are such a hypocrite!" Ron backed off, his hands in the air like he was surrendering. But he had a slightly mocking, I'm-humoring-you-but-I-think-you're-an-idiot smile. Hermione didn't like that at all. Harry had turned away, a scowl twisting his features slightly. Hermione knew Harry's expressions, and that scowl meant that he was mulling over something. So she let him be. She still had a bone to pick with Ronald, anyway.

"Merlin, Hermione. We were just joking," Ron said. Hermione smirked at him and laughed, a completely humorless sound. Ron looked startled. Normally Hermione just brushed off any "mistakes" that he made. But she was goddamn sick and tired of him thinking that he was better than other people because he was the best friend of the guy who defeated Voldemort.

"Of course you were. Crushing an eleven-year-old's hopes and dreams. Actually, you crushed three peoples'. Your idea of a joke. I forgot." She smiled at him bleakly.

"No, I didn't mean it like that! Mione, of course I didn't! But when I asked you for that definition, I thought it would be funny!"

"Well, Ron, your idea of funny is much different from mine."

~End Dream~

Hermione woke up to sunlight streaming through the gap where the two parts of the curtain came together. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. That dream had been so disconcerting. Ron and Harry never acted that blatantly mean, but were they heading there? She would have to observe their behavior a little bit today, during classes. She jumped out of bed and pulled on her light, light blue blouse- white was what you were supposed to wear, but with the heavy robes, no one would see the shirt. She finished getting dressed, brushed her teeth, and tamed her hair the best she could. She didn't look half-bad with her hair in a braid, she thought. She should wear it like that more often. Lastly, she swiped on some makeup. Not a lot. Just a little bit of lip tint and some mascara. It was hardly noticeable, but it made her look prettier.

Then she headed down to breakfast, prepared to observe the two boys who had been her friends since she was eleven. She sat down across from them and next to Ginny and helped herself to some sausage, eggs, and orange juice. As usual, Ron loaded his plate, and Harry didn't eat much. Hermione frowned; he was already so skinny. He couldn't afford to lose any more weight.

Ron started talking about some girl that had asked him out yesterday. He was explaining in detail the look on the girl's face. Hermione looked at Harry, checking for a reaction. He was looking at Ron. It wasn't in horror, but it wasn't laughing hard like Lavender, who alternated between flirting with Ron and shooting death glares at Hermione. In fact, his little half-smile, like he wasn't sure whether it was funny or not, looked forced. So was Ron the problem here? She decided that the one encounter couldn't solve anything, so she chose to keep observing.

During Potions, Hermione handed in her essay, along with most of the class. She felt that, on this essay, she had done a particularly excellent job. It wouldn't end up on the Excellent Work board, though, for two reasons: one, Snape hated her, and two, Snape would never put anything as cheery as an Excellent Work board on his walls. It would completely ruin his jerk vibe.

Hermione felt a vindictive satisfaction when she saw Snape chewing Ron out for not turning in his essay. He had wanted to start it the night that they had been lying on the couch, but he had forgotten.

Then, on her way to lunch, Hermione saw Ron. He was holding a book up in the air. A young girl was trying desperately to jump up and get it. Hermione knew, instantly, that it was a diary.

"I know that it is silly, the notion that Ron or Harry would like me, but I cannot help but wish... You're right, second-year, it is silly." He dropped the journal on the ground and began to walk away. Hermione felt her face begin to burn with anger and sympathy for the girl, who had grabbed her diary off of the ground and run away, presumably to her dormitory.

"Ronald Weasley. Come here now." Hermione said in a quiet but deadly voice. People stopped to listen. Hermione looked pissed and that didn't happen often. Something entertaining was going to happen, they knew it.

"Oh, hey, Mione. Didn't see you there!" Ron said brightly, turning to walk to her, to put his arm around her shoulder. She shoved it off angrily and a murmur ran through the crowd. Nobody saw Professor Snape silently walk up behind the crowd and listen.

"Oh, and what would have happened if you had? Would you still have read out that poor girl's diary?" Hermione challenged, hands on her hips.

"Mione, I... It was fun-"

"If that is your idea of fun, you are seriously sick. Why the hell would you embarrass her like that? Did she do something to you? Or was it unnecessary malice?" Professor Snape was impressed. This girl was good with words. And from the way that Weasley was turning red, he looked scared.

"I... I... Well, Mione..."

"Well, you know what? I'm not going to sit around waiting for you to form an articulate sentence. I think I'm gonna date around a little bit. At least until you figure out what's more fun: hurting second-years or having a girlfriend. See you around, Ronald." And with that, she walked away, swinging her hips slightly. Professor Snape took this time to say, quietly, but he had a voice that carried, "Go to lunch! Twenty points from Gryffindor." Ron tried to protest. Snape cut him off. "You disturbed the hallways," Snape hissed.

"But Hermione was the one yelling..." Ron said angrily.

"A month of detentions," Snape said. He smirked inwardly- this was just too easy. He watched Weasley's face turn red with satisfaction. Then he turned on his heel and felt proud of the way his robes billowed behind him ominously.

Ron sat at the lunch table. The news of his breakup had spread fast, and everyone knew why. There were some twisted versions of the story, as gossip always changed a bit, but all of them portrayed Hermione as good and him as bad. That pissed him off.

Hermione was chatting with Ginny a few feet away, probably about the breakup. So he turned to Harry.

"What's up, mate?" Then he saw the disappointed look in Harry's eyes. "What's wrong? Did you get your Transfiguration test back?" Hrry nodded.

"I got a ninety-four." Harry said. Ron was puzzled.

"Then why the disappointed look? A ninety-four is perfectly good. I got an eighty-nine, myself."

"Don't you see, Ron? I'm disappointed in you. I think that reading that girl's diary out loud was mean. I don't understand why you did it. It seems like pure malice." Harry turned away and struck up a conversation with Seamus about Quidditch.

That night, Ron was on prefect duty. Hermione knew that, but she had never expected to run into him. She had just returned a book to the library when she heard heavy footsteps. Ron. She knew that she didn't want to face him: he would be really angry. She looked around and there was nowhere to run except for a broom closet. So she ran over to the door, lightly pulled it open, making sure that it wouldn't creak, and hopped inside, shutting the door quietly behind her. She let out a soft sigh of relief when she heard Ron's footsteps go by.

"Don't want to face Weasel quite yet?" a drawling voice asked. Hermione started.

"Malfoy?" she said incredulously.

"Yes. Granger, I assume?" he said. Hermione could just tell that he was rolling his eyes.

She let a smirk curl over her lips. "No shit, Sherlock." She heard a snort from Malfoy. She grinned. She could see a faint glint off of his magnificent hair- not that she would ever tell him that his hair was magnificent. His ego was big enough as it was. Stroking it would be as good of an idea as lighting a tree in a forest on fire: absolutely stupid.

She stood up, putting her hands in front of her and walking where she thought the door was. She hadn't remembered that this was a broom closet, however, and a broom closet generally contains brooms. So she tripped over a broom in the complete darkness.

Not the worst part.

She landed in Malfoy's lap. She felt the heat rush to her cheeks. He laughed. "Klutz." he didn't sound mean, though, just teasing, like they were old friends or something..

"Shut up," she muttered. She felt his chuckle vibrate through his body. She began to stand up, when her arm brushed against Malfoy's chest,

"Sorry," she began to mutter. Before she knew what had happened, she felt a soft pair of lips on hers. Was she kissing Malfoy? She couldn't be! This would never happen! Hermione took the opportunity to run her fingers through his magnificent hair. She locked her arms around the nape of his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Their lips moved together. Draco Malfoy's tongue pressed against he lips. She opened them slowly, letting his tongue tour her mouth. This was the best kiss that she'd ever had. His tongue was amazing... Their tongues battled for dominance in the kiss, and Draco moaned quietly. Hermione smiled against his baby-soft lips.

Ron was patrolling when he heard soft sounds coming from the broom closet. He couldn't wait to catch someone, to release his anger by taking away points. Then he heard a guy moan "Mione" softly. The voice sounded really familiar.

Seamus? No. Dean? No. Marcus Flint? No. Blaise Zabini? No. Could it be?

No. It couldn't. Hermione would never...

Then he heard a distinctly female voice moan "Draco" and he knew.

He opened the door quietly. They were kissing with such passion that Ron didn't know how to break them apart. He was speechless, astonished, angry, and surprised. So overloaded with emotions that he couldn't think straight, he just left Hermione and Draco kissing in the broom closet, unaware of their surroundings.

He mulled over the fact that dating around for Hermione meant Draco Malfoy, of all people.

~Fin

R&R!


End file.
